Untrained Fascination (2 page)

They settled in, and soon, the crowd thickened around their position, including some of the Rrassic who obviously had a day off.

The music began, and a holographic projection sent the images of the ethereal aliens into the sky so that all could enjoy the sight of the slender, nearly transparent women who sang with the sweetness of a breaking heart.

Lianne sat, ate and let the sounds take her away from her position as a working hostage.

Lisa was flirting with the Hunters next to them, but Lianne’s eyes were on the performers. A motion to one side caught her focus, and she watched the crowded balcony overlooking the stage sway as the viewers cheered.

It wasn’t stable.

Lianne watched it, and the small shimmy of motion that she had detected as an unstable load became more visible.

She got to her feet and was running through the crowd as the motion gained the attention of those on the balcony. Several screams sounded, and folks ran away from the edge, but it only sped up the degradation of the structure.

The rising jack that had been used in the construction was on the way in, but the driver was jerking at the controls. He wouldn’t get into position in time.

Lianne ran upstream through the crowd and climbed the lumbering machine.

When she got to the nest, she kicked the driver out and took over the controls. She lined up the edge of the jack, lowered it to the minimum height and brought it up.

A crack shot through the air, and the balcony dropped, sending folks screaming and holding onto the edge. Lianne continued the controlled rise of the jack, and she got it in position, lifting the balcony and tipping the folk back, away from the drop edge.

Rrassic Hunters were getting everyone off the structure, and when it was safe, Lianne checked the area beneath her and lowered the jack, clearing the evacuees, and before the machine settled, she jumped free and ran past the performers huddled at the corner of the stage.

“Excuse me.” She smiled brightly at the ladies and left the rear of the stage, running around the vast crowd and heading up to the hill where she had left Lisa.

Being singled out wasn’t her idea of a great way to spend her day, so once she was in the gathering of escaping beings, she finally felt like one of the herd.

Lisa and the Hunters were gone. Lianne didn’t see the blanket or basket, so she headed for home.

She had work in the morning.

Sorrok looked at the broken structure suspended on the jacking rig. “Someone was thinking quickly. Where is the operator?”

Two of his men made enquiries, and a young human male was brought to him. He had found streaks of blood on the controls and took a sample.

Sorrok looked at the young man and smiled without showing teeth. The humans were always upset when they showed teeth.

“So, you saved all of those on the balcony? You will receive a commendation.”

The man smelled of nervous sweat and pain. “Hunter, I would like to take the commendation, but when you analyse the recordings, you will see that I was not the one at the controls. A young woman kicked me out of my seat and took over. It is a damned good thing, too. I was just going to try and rescue the folks on the balcony. I never thought of propping it up so they could get away.”

“Someone assaulted you?” Hunter Sorrok frowned. They took human-on-human violence seriously.”

The driver held his hands up. “No, she just was the better person for the job. I swear. She just wanted the controls, and I was too slow.”

Sorrok mentally sighed. It was a rumour that they had spread around that those who were violent were dispersed to other worlds. Some were, but most were simply counselled and returned to work with their pay docked.

“Did you recognize her?”

The humans weren’t supposed to socialize between the sexes, but there was always the chance that at an event such as this, they could have met.

“No, Hunter. I was just here to set up the scaffold.”

Sorrok looked him over. “You assembled this structure?”

“Yes, Hunter. I was told it would hold fifty. Five times that many were on it.” He was babbling and leaning away. The two Hunters who had brought him were holding him and keeping him from backing up.

“At ease, human. You are not in any danger. Our analysts will determine the cause of the collapse, and if negligence was involved, you will be contacted. Thank you for your cooperation. Please, have that cut on your head seen by medical.”

The man bowed and left.

Hunter Korisk spoke to Sorrok. “We have his information.”

Sorrok returned to the power jack, scraped a sample onto an analysis unit, finishing by licking the rest from the controls.

He would know the woman if he met her, and the scanner would help him do that. He needed to know how she had come to the assistance of so many.

The humans that could act against their own best interests and work to save those around them successfully were ones that were ready to go onto the next phase of their residency on Imrahl.

* * * *

Lianne flexed her hand and checked her bandage on her break. The three small slices were from grabbing the elevation jacks and pulling herself up.

Her hand looked as striped as the Zjin-Rrassic.

Mrtok hissed. “Damn. You need to get that looked at. What happened?”

Her supervisor must have followed the scent of blood. He had a tongue for such things. “I will be fine.”

“Go. Now. I will record a request for healing, and you will be back here tomorrow morning.”

She snorted. “I will be back this afternoon.”

He hissed and flicked his tongue out. “Tomorrow. The skin will need to set to close your wounds.”

She flexed her hand. “Is it that noticeable?”

“It is like the scent of wildflowers and the best meal my mother ever made.”

Lianne stared. “What?”

He laughed. “Blood is not only how we find prey, it is how we find mates. We seek out those that are right by their blood’s chemical signature.”

“Then, what are the Breeder classifications for?”

He sat next to her at the break table and took her hand in his scaly one. He turned her palm up and traced the cuts with his claw. “They narrow things down. They make for better hunting when the prey has been identified.”

She slowly pulled her hand away. “I am not prey.”

“No, and you are not Breeder class. Why is that?”

She looked into his dark amber eyes and blushed. “I guess I am just better at driving than anything else.”

He sat back and chuckled. “Go to the med centre. You are under no threat from me. While sex would be entertaining, it would serve no purpose. The Sthik-Rrassic self-propagates.”

“What?”

“We lay eggs. No mate required. Now, go. Fix your hand. We have work to do tomorrow.” Mrtok chuckled, hissing.

She got up and saluted him, heading out of the port and taking the city shuttle to the med centre.

The doors slid open at her approach, and she walked in, sliding her wristband through the scanner. Mrtok must have filed the repair order, because when she made it to the interior, a medic was there, and he took her directly in to an exam room.

The casual blue medical tunic was particularly tight on the medic.

“How did you injure yourself?”

“I am a lift driver, and I cut my hand on some metal.” It was completely true, if not the entire truth.

“You work at the port?”

She nodded. It was hardly a port in the manner that she was used to thinking of things. She arranged goods and supplies on wide skids as necessary. When they were full, Mrtok opened a gateway to another world and the shipment moved to its next location. Lianne’s day simply started all over again.

“Verbal answers, please.”

“Yes, I work at the port.”

He removed her bandage, and his silvery nostrils flared. She watched him as he cleaned the wounds and sprayed synthetic skin over the cuts. He had made sure it was an exact match, and the attention to detail was appreciated.

Her caregiver was a Nool-Rrassic. His body hadn’t begun the change, so he was in a personnel support position. It was interesting that he wasn’t in military training. When she was first grabbed, she was sure that all of the Rrassic were warriors who could slice her up as soon as look at her. Why they needed humans at all was still a mystery, but she was safe, her family was unharmed and she would continue to do what she had to do as long as the threat to them still hung over her head.

The medic would eventually mature into one of the other eight types of alien, but for now, he was tall, smooth and silvery in appearance. His muscle mass was coming in, but it would be another year before he was a mature male of some identifiable variety.

“You are to let the new skin set overnight. You may resume your duties tomorrow. I will take a blood sample to check for infection.”

She smiled weakly. “Okay. Sure. Thank you.”

He nodded and took a draw kit, turning her left arm and finding her vein with disturbing speed. Seconds later, her blood sample was whirring in the kit, and it came back with a clear read. He hadn’t run a DNA series on her. She breathed easier.

He dismissed her, and she thanked him again before heading out to her favourite teashop.

* * * *

Hunter Sorrok looked around and scented the air. She had been there.

The supervisor came over and nodded to him. “Hunter, how may I help you?”

Sorrok smiled tightly. “I am looking for one of the drivers registered here. Lianne Whelling.”

“What do you want with her?” The Sthik scowled at him.

“She was involved in the collapse yesterday. I need to speak with her.” He flared his nostrils again, and he could smell the woman on the Sthik. “She touched you.”

“I touched her. She has a wound, but I am guessing you know that if you have identified her.”

“How did she explain the wound?”

Her supervisor shook his head. “She didn’t. I didn’t ask.”

“Where is she?”

The Sthik rolled his eyes. “She has a wound, where do you think she is?”

Hunter Sorrok and his men inclined their heads. “Thank you.”

The supervisor called out, “I need her here for work tomorrow.”

Sorrok smiled slightly at that. “We will see what we can do. We would not want to leave you shorthanded.”

Korisk had a data screen in his hands and was checking medical records. “She has been discharged after suffering a series of wounds to her palm. There is no infection, so she was cleared to leave.”

Sorrok scowled. “Where is she now?”

“She hasn’t scanned in anywhere. What do you want to do?”

Sorrok frowned. “We will head into the city. Keep an eye on the scanner. If she swipes in anywhere, let me know immediately.”

“Yes, Sorrok.”

Lumar was silent, but he was always silent. His senses were on alert with so many humans in the area. The pointed tips of his ears vibrated with every sound.

They got into their transport and headed for the city.

Korisk suddenly said, “Got her. Mikkalthi Teashop. She just scanned in with enough of a selection to keep her there for twenty minutes.”

They were three minutes away.

* * * *

Lianne sat in a corner and watched the patrons come and go. She flexed her new skin and smiled at the lack of pain. It was hard to order painkillers when you didn’t want to admit to injury.

They hadn’t run her DNA, so she was safe on that score. There would be no second interview pigeonholing her into the Breeder slot.

The shop got quiet. There were already a few Rrassic at the tables, but three Hunters seen together was never good for business. They were hunting for something or someone.

The central Zjin-Rrassic slowly scanned the room, and when he saw her, a smile that showed a lot of teeth was in evidence.

Patrons scattered and made their way out of the shop. Lianne held her ground.

The hunting party walked up to her table, and she gestured to the seats next to and across from hers. “Please, be seated. Try the scones. They are rather flaky today.”

The men frowned and looked to their leader.

“Lianne Whelling?”

“I am.”

“I am Hunter Sorrok of the Zjin-Rrassic. I need to ask you a few questions about the events yesterday.”

She sipped at her tea, using the prop to keep calm. “So ask.”

“What part did you play at the event yesterday?”

One of the men had a recorder on his small screen.

“A friend invited me out, to keep me from spending my free day indoors. We went to the event, took a space high and away from the crowds and we watched the singing with several hundred people.”

“When did you notice the irregularity with the structure?”

“I am trained to notice imbalance in loads, so I noted the shimmy as soon as it started. I got up and started to run, but the crowd slowed me down. By the time I got there, the lift operator was trying to move in close to help them escape, but that wasn’t going to do any good. I climbed the rig, cut my hand up and kicked him out of the control box while I moved to shore up the balcony to let folks get away. Several people saw me, but I didn’t want to hang around as I had work this morning, and the concert was definitely over.”

“Do you suspect that the collapse was due to anything in particular?”

“Unstable weight load. With so many folks rushing to the front of the balcony to see the performance, they put a lot of strain on the connections. It was human error on the part of the spectators.”

“Why are you not a registered Breeder? I remember you from my scouting.”

She paused and stared at him. “I have never seen you before.”

“I wore camouflage, as did the others of my kind who scouted out men and women for this place. You had so much potential and were such a close match. What happened?”

He was staring at her intently, and she was uncomfortable under his golden gaze in the blue expanse where whites should have been.

“Check my records.” She folded her hands on the table.

“I did. They indicate a virulent feline allergy, yet you sit here with my hand touching yours, and there is no visible response. Can human allergies disappear in time?”